The pastoral life of the grass tribe chief

"Yao, did something happen to you? Tell us, we can help you."

"No, I'm fine, I just want to change my lifestyle."

"Who are you kidding? You think you're changing your way of life? You're just going backwards."

"Lu Yao, let's break up. You can't give me the life I want."

……

Lu Yao hung up the phone, collapsed onto the bed, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He had lost count of how many calls he had received today. Ever since his relatives and friends learned that he had been laid off, they had stirred up a hornet's nest, calling him incessantly. Even his girlfriend of seven years had broken up with him.

"Did Lu Yao go out to look for a job?"

"No, I'm at home, I'm too ashamed to face anyone."

"The village ancestral hall has not been repaired for many years. Everyone held a meeting and agreed to rebuild it on an auspicious day at the end of this year."

"Donations are based on the number of people, with each person donating two thousand. Individual donations are calculated separately."

"Lu Yao's parents live with him, and he wants to donate six thousand."

"His uncles and aunts donated at least 10,000 yuan each in their own names, and his father couldn't donate less than that amount, otherwise people would laugh at him."

"His family is drowning in debt, and his mother just had major surgery and isn't working right now. Where are they going to get the money to donate?"

"Keep your voice down. I said a couple of words to him and he got a bad attitude towards me. I wouldn't even bother talking to other people."

"Exactly, like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, not recognizing a kind heart."

How old is he this year?

"She's the same age as my eldest daughter, born in the Year of the Tiger, and she's 28 this year. My eldest daughter already has three children; the oldest one is already in kindergarten."

"If he doesn't go out and make money, he'll only ever live in this old house; he won't even be able to afford to get married."

"Our village is alright, but other villages have anywhere from a dozen to over thirty bachelors, and the whole township has over a hundred."

……

Lu Yao was feeling annoyed when he heard his aunt, uncle, and neighbors talking downstairs.

Lu Yao sneered inwardly, not taking their words to heart.

If you argue with these kinds of people too much, you'll just get so angry you'll die.

Their house is a typical three-story building in the countryside, with no exterior decoration.

It's said to be a three-story building, but it's actually two stories and eight floors, with a rooftop terrace on the third floor.

He was still in college when the building was constructed; his two older brothers funded its construction, and his name is not on the property certificate.

Since there was no extra land in the family, the old house was allocated to him.

In other words, he is only staying here temporarily.

When a shadow fell in through the window, Lu Yao realized that it was getting late.

He got up and went down to the second-floor kitchen to cook.

His parents knew he was in a bad mood, so they wouldn't let him work in the fields. But he couldn't do nothing, so he stayed home and cooked so that his parents would have hot meals when they came back from working.

The eldest brother's family lives on the first floor.

My second brother's family lives on the second floor.

His room was on the third floor.

My second brother opened a self-service shopping mall in Huacheng. His children are all around him, and he only comes back to stay for a few days on important occasions such as festivals and ancestral worship.

The parents looked after the house for the second brother, and lived and ate on the second floor.

Lu Yao chopped vegetables while listening to music.

"This life has been such a failure / I thought sincerity could be reciprocated with lasting love / But all I got in return was constant hurt / If there is an afterlife and I don't come back to this world / What's the point of talking about love and affection / All I see are pleasant collaborations / I no longer believe I can rely on anyone..."

Lu Yao's heart clenched painfully upon hearing this.

At the same time, a sharp pain shot through my finger.

In a moment of distraction, I cut my finger, and blood flowed freely.

He then realized what was happening and quickly pinched the wound, the grass ring on his right little finger also getting stained with blood.

He didn't realize the grass ring was sucking his blood; he just felt a little dizzy.

He cleaned the blood off his hands, wrapped them with a band-aid, and continued cooking despite feeling dizzy.

After cooking the vegetables and keeping them warm in the pan, I called my father and told him not to wait for me to eat, then went upstairs to sleep.

He often did this after he came back, and his parents didn't suspect anything.

When I woke up, it was already the next morning.

Lu Yao felt he had never been so energetic before.

He was about to get up to brush his teeth and wash his face when he suddenly froze.

Then, his expression grew increasingly strange, and finally his gaze fell on the grass ring on his right little finger.

I found this grass ring with my girlfriend when we were shopping at the Xiguan Antique Market.

It reminded him of the grass rings he used to weave as a child and those carefree days, so he spent ten yuan to buy it.

I wanted to give it to my girlfriend, but she thought it was tacky and scoffed at it.

He wore it himself.

I wanted to wear it on my right middle finger, but my girlfriend disliked it and didn't want to, so I wore it on my little finger instead.

Perhaps, the outcome was already predetermined from the moment the grass ring was put on.

I've worn this grass ring for over a year, always thinking it was just an ordinary toy. Little did I know it was the supreme treasure of the Grass Clan in the Immortal Realm, and also a symbol of the Grass Clan Chief's status.

What excited him most was that there was a space inside the grass ring.

The moment he had a thought, he was already inside the space.

The space wasn't large, about the size of a typical house, and apart from a small pond, it was mostly just a chaotic mess.

The pool was also facing drying up; the water in the pool was pitifully little, enough to fill only an ordinary drinking cup.

The pool water was crystal clear and looked even cleaner and tastier than the mountain spring water in the village.

He was feeling thirsty, so he cupped his hands and drank some water from the pool.

Suddenly, I felt every pore on my body open up, an incredibly comfortable sensation. I couldn't help but shiver. An unsuspecting person might have thought I was doing something indescribable.

"Could this be the legendary sacred spring?"

He clearly sensed the changes within himself.

This pool of water not only quenches thirst, but can also heal wounds and chronic ailments.

He spent most of his time in the office and often worked overtime and stayed up late. He had all the occupational diseases that white-collar workers usually have, but now he is completely cured and full of energy.

He felt he could kill the old master with a single punch.

He also noticed that the spring water at the bottom of the pool was slowly rising again, and it seemed that it would soon rise back to its original level.

He knew very little about the Grass Clan and the Grass Ring, which seemed to be related to his own cultivation level.

He was a content and happy person, and he wasn't discouraged. A cup of spiritual spring water every day was enough to completely change his life.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Lu Yao went downstairs to the kitchen to find something to eat.

My parents have finished breakfast and gone to work in the fields.

His food was warming in the pot.

I don't know if it was because he didn't eat last night, or because he was in a good mood, or both, but he had a very good appetite and ate more than usual.

After finishing his meal and washing the dishes, he took a sausage, rode his motorcycle, and headed out to his own pond, carrying the swill.

The pond is quite far from the village, about 500 meters away, at the foot of their own tea plantation.

A cement road passes through the mouth of the ravine, and Lu Yao's family has built a three-meter-wide dirt road along the foot of the mountain at the mouth of the ravine, leading directly to their house at the foot of the tea mountain.

Cement was poured into the middle of the dirt road to make it easier for motorcycles to travel.

The distance from the mouth of the ravine to the house is about 100 meters, and the short section past the pond is uphill.

The four houses are arranged in a row and built against the mountain.

There is a cement paved area in front of the house, and below it is a pond.

Several chinaberry trees, over ten meters tall, grow naturally by the pond. Their leaves have all fallen, and their branches are laden with glittering golden fruits, creating a vivid early winter scene against the backdrop of blue sky, white clouds, and mountains.

Several longan and lychee trees were planted behind the house, their branches and leaves shading part of the sky above the house.

The pond is a full five acres wide. Back then, the family incurred hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt to dig this pond for my older brother to raise fish.

He had almost paid off the debt over the years, but six months ago his mother was hospitalized for major surgery, and he incurred another debt of more than 30,000 yuan, bringing his total debt to more than 50,000 yuan.

He was supposed to pay off all his debts this year, but he lost his job!

As the saying goes, when a person is at their lowest point, their luck will turn around, and this saying applies perfectly to Lu Yao.